Rethinking Grand Design.

[tonyknopf]

I’ve got a 2016 313RLTS and I think the concerns over the “laminate” or “composite” floor construction is valid. After 5 plus years of meticulous service and care our floor has developed a soft spot... about 12” wide and 3’ long, located over the grey water tank between the kitchen island and the furnace/hutch enclosure. Very frustrating.

I removed the Coroplast underbelly only to find 1. No floor support joists for the length of the kitchen/bathroom grey water tank and 2. A floor joist that was installed 1 1/4” below the underside of the floor, giving the floor no support whatsoever.

Furring the gap between the top of the joist and the underside of the floor solved a portion of the soft-spot but additional supports still needs to be installed to rectify the balance. Looks like dropping the grey water tank is in my future.

Piss poor design and construction is to blame.

It’s wise to be concerned with foam sandwiched floors.

[PTParker]

I’ve got a 2016 313RLTS and I think the concerns over the “laminate” or “composite” floor construction is valid. After 5 plus years of meticulous service and care our floor has developed a soft spot... about 12” wide and 3’ long, located over the grey water tank between the kitchen island and the furnace/hutch enclosure. Very frustrating.

I removed the Coroplast underbelly only to find 1. No floor support joists for the length of the kitchen/bathroom grey water tank and 2. A floor joist that was installed 1 1/4” below the underside of the floor, giving the floor no support whatsoever.

Furring the gap between the top of the joist and the underside of the floor solved a portion of the soft-spot but additional supports still needs to be installed to rectify the balance. Looks like dropping the grey water tank is in my future.

Piss poor design and construction is to blame.

It’s wise to be concerned with foam sandwiched floors.

I pulled the trigger and purchased the Reflection trailer and am very happy with it, but it is only about 7 months old! The thing that concerns me the most is still the laminate floor! I would much rather have a plywood floor! I have a friend that is a RV tech, and he has told me horror stories about the laminate roofs! The floors are the same way, if the glue gives, you have no support! I have not seen him in a while and have not ask him about the laminate floors but I am sure they are a problem!

[tonyknopf]

I pulled the trigger and purchased the Reflection trailer and am very happy with it, but it is only about 7 months old! The thing that concerns me the most is still the laminate floor! I would much rather have a plywood floor! I have a friend that is a RV tech, and he has told me horror stories about the laminate roofs! The floors are the same way, if the glue gives, you have no support! I have not seen him in a while and have not ask him about the laminate floors but I am sure they are a problem!

Congratulations on your purchase, I’m sure you’re going to love it!

Sorry for the delay in my 2 cents worth and the bit of sour grapes... overall we’re very happy with the GD.

I think no mater what RV one purchases, there are always some kind of issues that arise, whether it’s a million dollar Class A or budget friendly towable.

That being said, if you’re adventurous, perhaps consider dropping your Coroplast underbelly (when the weather warms up) to give everything a good inspection. It will allow you to tidy up any wiring, look for leaks, look for any gaps between the top of the floor joists and the floor, look for areas lacking floor support, seal any holes that could allow insects or vermin to enter (the slide(s) actuator(s) can be a point of entry), add insulation or re-do the foil, segment the Coroplast to make future maintainance, inspection or repair easier and lastly, seal up the edge of the Coroplast with belly tape - its prone to collect road spray water (tons of it) inside the open cells.

You’ve got a great warranty, if you find the floor starting to feel spongy (especially around high traffic areas) I’d get on GD right away.

Enjoy your new rig!

[ThePowells]

Understand your concern for the long haul. GD has very good customer support (my personal experience). Quality wise our 315RLTS is three years old now, not a bad RV, however not necessarily any better than other brands. It is good you are looking at all the details of construction, most just look at the decorative part, solid surface counters or white instead of brown cabinets.

Attached is a link to a RV company that seems to try to address the current pitfalls with a lot of RV's. Good luck in your shopping.
https://www.alliancerv.com/fifth-wheel-paradigm.php

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

I understand that this thread is almost a year old. That being said, We spent several hours at a show crawling all over Alliance 5ers at a show. I saw a few things I liked better and several that I didn't. Our first RV that we bought was a "first of it's kind" showpiece built knowing that it was going to a show. The Alliance 5er I spent the most time with was a 2 week old unit delivered to the dealer at the show. What I really saw was neater work, but I also consider that the Alliance did not come off of a full speed piecework production line, but still there were things I saw inherent to todays production standards. We had a long conversation with the dealership owner that started during my crawl thru inspection. He also owned two more dealerships in other markets and sold 90% of the lines that are normally available. The thing that stuck out was his comment that if you offered him any Alliance against a Solitude for free, he would take the Solitude. He pointed out things that he had seen during dealers time at Alliance and then walked with us to the Grand Design display and showed me what he had been explaining.

[andrewssteve]

... He pointed out things that he had seen during dealers time at Alliance and then walked with us to the Grand Design display and showed me what he had been explaining.

Ummm. Care to identify the things he was talking about and showing you?

-Steve

[SGT ROC]

It's been said all over this forum many times, ALL manufacturers have issues with build in one way or another. Your best bet is to find the floor plan you like the best, than when you purchase the unit, do a good PDI with the dealer. I posted a thread yesterday on NHTSA recalls on RVs (https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...g-to-the-nhtsa). That spreadsheet contains a link to every recall notice via the recall number. In other words click on the recall number and it will take you you the website. Of huge note, in the year and a half that the spreadsheet covers (May 2019 to December 2020) Grand Design only has two (2) official recalls. Almost every other brand has more, some by hundreds more. I put in tabs at the bottom of the sheet for the prominent ones. One other note, a lot of the recalls are the same for multiple brands, as they all use the same equipment in their rigs.

[MooManChu]

I looked at the Alliance toy hauler a few months ago, thought I might have buyers remorse with my 320G, however nothing in the floorplan for their 5vers matches anyways. Good comments here about quality, it's a calculated risk. Hedge your bet with a reputable brand and roll the dice. My GD dealer now carries Alliance toy haulers. They all sticker over 105K. When were looking, comparable GD models were in the 70's. Of course there is the negotiation, yada yada ..shave 15% of that number. Anyways, the Alliance stuff looks bit pricier than GD. We're on our 4th trailer and while I don't ignore quality, the customer service goes hand in hand. There is only one guarantee and that you will have some kind of issue with a trailer at some point. We bought Crossroads for that reason (before Keystone gutted there customer service) and now GD.

[Txfivver]

I had a little "episode" with mine last month that completely sold me on GD's customer service. Since I'm towing to Disney World in 3 weeks I took it in to get a minor item fixed, ice maker line got cut in the slide rail when it was installed by my dealer last year. While there I had them go ahead and put Timken wheel bearings and make sure all packed with grease etc and check the brakes, they worked fine. Well when I picked it up a few days before our big snow event last month I had minimal brake power. WTH?! The only tech who's ever worked on it spent an hour outside adjusting them and checking everything over ( it was 35 degrees and windy out.) They had replaced both rear backing plates and brake parts because one side had a broken adjuster rod. Well he got them working enough to get it home and the service advisor said he send the tech to my storage unit after the storm to figure it out. 2 weeks later this guy comes out and rechecks everything, no joy. The Dexter tech line wouldn't answer but the Grand Design tech line sure did. Their tech guy spent an hour on the phone with us going over things to check, my trailer is out of warranty by the way. I saw someone else post the same issue and it turns out when he re-connected the wire to the new backing plates he only stripped back the white insulation, not the reddish, same color as the bare wire, insulation! GD said be sure and check that as well. The poor guy was sooo embarrassed! He spent 3 hours checking everything before he figured it out. No charge from the dealer and GD tech support spent an hour trying to help. THAT to me is customer support and why I'm so loyal to them both. Just my .02c

[LaMancha]

First, Carbon fiber and 1/4 inch luan is far from the same thing. Also, they probably were not walking on those parts. Its all about what the purpose is and how it is constructed. They even were quick to tell me that this is not plywood but luan which is worse since luan is purposed for use in building toys and as a covering not for structural purpose! Luan is single ply, which makes it subject to weak grain! That is one thing that worried me!

A small point of clarification. Luan is a type of wood, not a feature. 1/8" luan plywood is made from 3 layers of luan. It is slightly more brittle than other types, but if you glue and laminate 2 layers of this ply, it is very strong and rigid.

[Sask 379]

Thats interesting, my local rv dealership in Canada claims the same. They handle Montana Jayco pinnacle Alliance and solitude.
Not sure if There’s more incentives for them promoting GD but they do!